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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

"In the world of Unix operating systems, the various BSDs come with a long heritage of high-quality software and well-designed solutions, making them a favorite OS of a wide range of users. Among budget-minded users who adopted BSD early on to developers of some of today's largest Internet sites, the popularity of BSD systems continues to grow. If you use the BSD operating system, then you know that the secret of its success is not just in its price tag: practical, reliable, extraordinarily stable and flexible, BSD also offers plenty of fertile ground for creative, time-saving tweaks and tricks, and yes, even the chance to have some fun.

"Fun?" you ask. Perhaps "fun" wasn't covered in the manual that taught you to install BSD and administer it effectively. But BSD Hacks, the latest in O'Reilly's popular Hacks series, offers a unique set of practical tips, tricks, tools--and even fun--for administrators and power users of BSD systems.

BSD Hacks takes a creative approach to saving time and getting more done, with fewer resources. You'll take advantage of the tools and concepts that make the world's top Unix users more productive. Rather than spending hours with a dry technical document learning what switches go with a command, you'll learn concrete, practical uses for that command.

The book begins with hacks to customize the user environment. You'll learn how to be more productive in the command line, timesaving tips for setting user-defaults, how to automate long commands, and save long sessions for later review. Other hacks in the book are grouped in the following areas:

Customizing the User Environment

Dealing with Files and Filesystems

The Boot and Login Environments

Backing Up

Networking Hacks

Securing the System

Going Beyond the Basics

Keeping Up-to-Date

Grokking BSD

If you want more than your average BSD user--you want to explore and experiment, unearth shortcuts, create useful tools, and come up with fun things to try on your own--BSD Hacks is a must-have. This book will turn regular users into power users and system administrators into super system administrators."

great for anyone from newbie to experienced user, easy to use, lots of interesting hacks

Cons:

some hacks may get you into trouble

this book is great for anyone interested in BSD systems. i've used it to customize my FreeBSD computer exactly how i like it. a lot of the information in it cannot be found on the internet (at least not easily) and it is all packaged into one convenient book. there are a wide range of hacks, useful for system administrators or just average users.

there are however some hacks that may get the novice user into trouble, such as recompiling the kernel. though it is encouraged in the book, some of the people on LQ suggest that it's not absolutely necessary and should not be done. i can see why this is - possibility of not being able to boot to the new kernel, certain devices you thought weren't needed you accidentally removed, etc....

overall, the book is a good reference if you're a BSD user. it doesn't exactly provide the reader with step by step tutorials on BSD, but it's more of a random compilation of interesting things you can do to your system.